A visit from St. Nicholas

As we did last year, my neighbor and I helped the boys learn a little about giving through the story of St. Nicholas. And then we put our shoes outside before going to bed in hopes that someone would show kindness to us just like St. Nicholas. Actually Nate decided to put out his boots and Logan followed suit of course. The boys were so excited to open the door in the morning and find goodies in their boots. And now.... how can we show kindness to someone else today....

Gingerbread Men

Oma always has a fun craft. This week we made Gingerbread men... and promptly ate them!

Zoolights with Oma

Mom and Dad took the boys to zoolights this year while Ken and I went to a movie. They had a blast and we got a much needed break.

The Rollercoaster of November

Where to start.... This has been a crazy busy month. Many of you know we have been looking for a new house for about a year now. Not that we NEED a new house right now, but looking towards the future with growing teenage boys it would be nice to have a bit more space. Nice if Ken had an office and could work from home. Nice to not have neighbors who can look down into our yard/house. So we set out on this quest, this marriage building experience to see if we could somehow meld our ideas into the "dream home" where we will live while the boys grow up. We've looked at short sales, we've looked at bank owned homes and over the course of the year we've seen a lot of interesting homes and even managed to make offers on 8 different homes! EIGHT! But for one reason or another they all fell through. One was a distressed home, no longer in distress so they took it off the market. One was a beautiful home but we felt uneasy about the slope it was on so we rescinded the offer. One was an amazing home that no one had lived in even though it was built 5 years ago but we were too late with our offer. One was an okay home that thought we could grow to love and the price point was low so we put our name in the hat, but got rejected. One had an amazing view, but when we did the inspections there was too much work and the sellers weren't willing to negotiate. One house was absolutely amazing but a co-worker also wanted the house and so in the interest of our friendship and not wanting to get in a bidding war we backed out of that one as well. And at the begining of November Ken found yet another AMAZING home that we thought we should go for. (Yes, our realtor loves us!) So all month long we have been in this "process" of negotiating a price, going through inspections, and working with the banks. We thought "all systems were a go" and put our house on the market. I spent a good 3 days and boxed up our "LIFE" and put it in the garage. Within 2 hours of listing our house we had 3 showings scheduled for the next day. Since then I think we've had 15 "strangers" as Nate likes to call them come look and see if they would want to make this their starter home. It's really a nice home and I kinda hate to leave it behind. I like the area, the neighbors, the friends, the club, the proximity to everything. Besides, moving across town, starting all over, well nobody likes change do they? And Thanksgiving came. We had much to be thankful for. Particularly we were reminded how blessed we are by my amazing parents who came over to work on a leaky roof two days after it went on the market. And came over to help with the broken furnace which was out for 6 days! Brrrrr! And thankful for friends who were on vacation so we could take naps at their house while people were looking at our house. And Bella, that sweet little dog the boys love, who ran away, but after 3 hours we found her at a neighbors. Much to be thankful for. And then there came a "glitch" at the bank and everything was on hold with our move. As in call the moving companies, stop insurance increases that were already submitted. The bank wouldn't lend us the money given that a third of the prospective house was remodled without permits and there is no assurance that it is built to code. We went into a waiting pattern to hear if the seller would take out permits and deal with the "back taxes" owed. If not, the deal would be off, our bank (or any other bank for that matter) would not take the risk and let us buy the house. But they Sellers had a week to decide. And I was stuck in this place of do I unpack my boxes or wait in hope that this transaction will go through after all. And so that is what we did in November. And then we finally recieved the call. The deal is off. We can only speculate what happened on that end. Either they didn't want to sell it for the price Ken negotiated (since they found out it appraised for much higher) or they truly didn't want to take the permits out because the house was not up to code, or they didn't want to be exposed to the tax penalties for evading taxes for the last 10 years. Whatever the reason was, they recieved a second offer on the house and decided to try to sell it to them instead(even though we legally had a contract and they shouldn't be entertaining other offers). So it's been quite a process. We are at the end of the roller coaster and it's time to get off. I'm not sure either of us have the stamina to get back on any time soon. Which is okay, because we have a place to live that we like. And now I'm thankful for a break... enjoying our current house and our neighbors and community here. Here's a picture of the boys boxing up thier toys... to them this has been just fun. And a picture of my crazy garage. And now back to unpacking... sigh.

Just a scoop of peanut butter

Can keep a little guy happy :-) I was thankful there wasn't much in the jar and he could just go to town on it. Now that I have a brand new jar open... I'm not as ready to let him plunge on in... When I first met Ken this is what he had for dinner.

PCM with Oma

The boys love going to the Museum... especially with OMA

Frozen shoulder

In May my shoulder started bothering me...I thought maybe I tweaked it at the gym doing weights so I changed my routine and did cardio instead. Since then my shoulder got progressively worse. By August, anytime I made a quick movement I would have this sharp pain shooting through my arm. In September it got to be so painful (it was interfering with my volleyball game) that I decided to see a physical therapist. He gave me some stretching exercises to do but it got WORSE! So I made an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon to get a diagnosis. Frozen shoulder. He decided we needed a cortisone shot to alleviate swelling/pain and confirm it wasn't a vertebrae issue. I'm not crazy about shots but the pain was so bad I agreed. The fact that it had to be done in a sterile environment and it was just me and 4 doctors/nurses made me even more nervous. I didn't look. The procedure only took 5 minutes and afterwards they made me sit in a wheelchair while they took me up to the doctor for examination. My arm felt so much better! Until the anesthetic wore off :-( The doctor gave me some exercises and I've made so much progress! I've also been going to my chiropractor and it is has really made a difference. I know I have a lot to do to get back to 100% but I'm so thankful it's on the mend!

Homemade Donuts

The boys had another fun day with Oma making homemade donuts. Yum!

Leaves are falling

And I have two boys who like to rake :-) Honestly, I didn't put them up to it. I simply said yes when they asked even though it was raining. Might as well have fun while it's raining right?

Pumpkin Fun

We got to carve our pumpkins with Auntie and our cousins this year. The boys love hanging out with the girls. I took pictures with Aunties camera so I only have these from our house. The boys also did a craft with Oma making a jack-o-lantern out of milk jugs. Super cute idea!

TrickOTreater!!!

On Halloween Day we visited Uncle Stevie and Aunt Betsy at lunchtime. We enjoyed walking downtown and eating pizza. After naps we visited Daddy at work. At first they were a little shy, but in no time at all they were running, yes running, down the aisles yelling there's candy over here!!!!! Trick O Treater!!!! Afterwards we enjoyed a little get together at the neighbors before hitting a few houses around the block. All 4 boys went barreling through the neighborhood pounding on doors and ringing the doorbells till someone came to the door. It was a little embarressing for me but most everyone realized they were just dealing with excited 3 year olds. Logan lost interest after 4 or 5 houses and found a stick to play with. Fun memories!

Halloween Party

We went to Daddy's work for a Halloween party. The boys got their costumes on and tried their hand at a few games. The event was full of fun: Basketball, soccer, frisbee, calk walk, & Balloon animal station (aka ray gun). We were thankful that it wasn't too crowded!

Disney on Ice

We were the beneficiaries of tickets to Disney on Ice this weekend! The boys had a fantastic time. I wasn't sure how they would respond to such a big production. They were awestruck. I don't think they blinked at all. They were so excited to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald on the ice. They both started yelling "Hi Mickey!" when they saw him and were a little disappointed when he didn't respond. We had to explain there were too many kids for him to talk to them all. The boys were mezmerized by the story of Princess and the Frog, Cinderella and Rapunzel. I tried to capture the intense focus on their faces. And now to continue saving our quarters so that we can visit Mickey Mouse's house in California someday.

Tumble Class

We learned how to hop skip and jump all around the mats, beams and cushions. Even Logan enjoyed a tumble here and there.